Background The COVID-19 pandemic has caused not only a disease epidemic but also an infodemic. Due to the increased use of the internet and social media, along with the development of communication technology, information has spread faster and farther during the COVID-19 infodemic. Moreover, the increased choice of information sources has made it more difficult to make sound decisions regarding information. Although social media is the most common source of misinformation, other forms of media can also spread misinformation. However, the media sources used by people with high health literacy and COVID-19 knowledge to obtain information are unclear. Furthermore, the association between the use of multiple information sources and health literacy or COVID-19 knowledge is ill-defined. Objective This study aims to examine the following 3 aspects regarding the COVID-19 infodemic: (1) the relationship between health literacy, COVID-19 knowledge, and the number of information sources used; (2) the impact of media use on health literacy; and (3) the impact of media use on COVID-19 knowledge. Methods An online cross-sectional study was conducted in November 2021. Participants were 477 individuals aged 20-69 years. After obtaining consent to participate in the study, participants were asked about sociodemographic indicators, sources of health-related information, health literacy, and COVID-19 knowledge. Sources of health-related information were categorized into 4 types: mass media, digital media, social media, and face-to-face communication. The Spearman rank correlation test was conducted to determine the relationship between health literacy, the number of correct answers to COVID-19 knowledge, and the number of information sources used. Multiple regression analysis was conducted with health literacy and the number of correct answers as dependent variables, the 4 media types as independent variables, and age and sex as adjustment variables. Results Mass media was the most frequently used source of information, followed by digital media, face-to-face communication, and social media. Social media use was significantly higher among individuals aged 20-29 years than among other age groups. Significant positive correlations were found between health literacy, the number of positive responses to COVID-19 knowledge, and the number of information sources used. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that health literacy is associated with access to information from digital media and face-to-face communication. Additionally, COVID-19 knowledge was associated with access to information from mass media, digital media, and face-to-face communication. Conclusions Health literacy and COVID-19 knowledge could be improved using diverse information sources, especially by providing opportunities to use digital media and face-to-face communication. Furthermore, it may be important to improve health literacy and provide accurate knowledge about COVID-19 to young adults.
BACKGROUND Coronavirus (COVID-19) caused not only a pandemic but also an infodemic. Misinformation can increase fear and influence COVID-19 infection prevention behaviors. Health literacy is considered important in infodemics for coping with misinformation. It has been reported that infection prevention behavior, health literacy, and COVID-19 fear differ by age, and it is important to clarify the relationship by age. In addition, an association between health literacy and COVID-19 knowledge has been reported, but no paper has examined this association in Japan. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was (1) to examine factors associated with COVID-19 infection prevention behaviors by age group and (2) to clarify relationship between health literacy and COVID-19 knowledge. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted with 512 participants aged 20–69 years, recruited from an online sample from November 1 to 5, 2021. An online self-administered questionnaire was used to obtain participants’ characteristics, COVID-19 infection prevention behaviors, health literacy, COVID-19 knowledge, and fear of COVID-19. The Kruskal-Wallis rank-sum test was used to compare the scores of each item for each age group. The relationship between COVID-19 infection prevention behaviors, health literacy, COVID-19 knowledge, and fear of COVID-19 was reported by Spearman-rank correlation analysis. Additionally, multiple regression analysis was conducted with COVID-19 infection prevention behaviors as the dependent variable; health literacy, COVID-19 knowledge, and fear of COVID-19 as independent variables; and sex as adjustment variable. RESULTS The results of the correlation analysis showed a significant positive correlation between infection prevention behavior and health literacy (p<.001), COVID-19 knowledge (p<.001), and fear of COVID-19 (p<.001). In addition, a multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine the factors associated with infection prevention behaviors. Health literacy, COVID-19 knowledge, and fear of COVID-19 were significantly associated with infection-prevention behaviors (p<.001). Furthermore, analysis by age revealed that the factors associated with infection-prevention behavior differed by age group. In the age group of 20-29, 30-39, and 40-49 years, multiple factors, including health literacy, influenced COVID-19 infection prevention behaviors, whereas in the age group of 50-59 and 60-69 years, only fear of COVID-19 was shown to have an impact. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that it is important to improve health literacy and correctly inform people of the risks specific to diseases to promote infection prevention behaviors.
ObjectivesIn recent years, the employment statuses of the elderly have become more diverse, and it is important to investigate the differences in health status according to employment statuses. This study aimed to examine the differences in physical activity and mental function among elderly Japanese according to their employment status and to examine the differences between men and women.MethodsThis cross‐sectional study used an online questionnaire. The participants were persons aged ≥60 years. Data on their sociodemographic indicators, employment status, physical activity, and mental function were collected. They were classified into six groups according to their employment status: being employed, completely retired, re‐hired at the same workplace, re‐hired at a different workplace, early retirement, and working at a job without a mandatory retirement age. Differences in the surveyed items according to employment status were compared using the Kruskal‐Wallis test.ResultsThe total number of participants in the analysis with complete responses was 1552 (1207 men and 345 women; mean age 67.8 ± 5.9 years). The results revealed that among men, those who were re‐hired at different workplaces had higher walking physical activity, and retirees and early retirees had longer sedentary time and lower sense of self‐usefulness. There was no clear difference among women according to their employment status.ConclusionsThe results suggest that physical activity and mental function among older adults may differ according to their employment status, especially for men. Employment among the elderly may play an important role in maintaining their physical activity and mental function.
BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic has caused not only a disease epidemic, but also an infodemic. Due to the increased use of the Internet and social media, along with the development of communication technology, information has spread faster and farther during the COVID-19 infodemic. Moreover, the increased choice of information sources has made it more complex to make good decisions regarding information. Although social media is the most common source of misinformation, there are cases of misinformation being spread by other forms of media. It is unclear which media sources are used by people with high health literacy and information comprehension. Clarifying this may help to elucidate how to spread true information to a larger number of people to bring the infodemic under control. OBJECTIVE Our aim was to determine the relationship between health literacy, or the comprehension of misinformation and the media used to obtain information. METHODS An online cross-sectional study was conducted in November 2021. The participants were 477 individuals aged 20–69 years. After obtaining consent to participate in the study, the participants were asked about sociodemographic indicators, sources of health-related information, health literacy, and comprehension of COVID-19 misinformation. Sources of health-related information were categorized into 4 types: mass media, digital media, social media, and face-to-face communication. Multiple regression analysis was conducted with health literacy and comprehension as dependent variables, the 4 media as independent variables, and age and gender as adjustment variables. RESULTS Mass media was the most frequently used source of information, followed by digital media, face-to-face communication, and social media. There were no differences in the use of mass media, digital media, or face-to-face communication according to age group. Social media use was significantly higher among those in their 20s than among other age groups. Multiple regression analysis showed that higher health literacy was associated with access to information from digital media and face-to-face communication. Higher comprehension was also associated with access to information from mass media, digital media, and face-to-face communication. CONCLUSIONS We considered that health literacy is important for accessing necessary information from digital media, where there is a lot of information, both true and false, and from various forms of communication. It was also suggested that information may be understood differently depending on how it is conveyed to users. Thus, improving health literacy and being able to effectively use information from digital media and face-to-face communication may improve each persons’ information comprehension. Moreover, improving the health literacy of younger generations, who are the primary users of social media, may prevent the spread of misinformation. By improving the health literacy of each individual, we may be able to cope with the infodemic.
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